These photos were taken on a cold day in Cincinnati last week, when the sun started to fade and cast the most beautiful moody, golden glow. This outfit is without a doubt my favorite of the year. My clogs were a Christmas gift from my husband. They’re a lovely rich shade of bordeaux I’ve been dreaming of for winter and easy to throw on for my ideal balance of effortless and cool. My dress was purchased on our last trip to Charleston, back when it was too hot to even think about wearing it, and I’m so glad the temperatures at home resemble something of a winter now. My pants, the wonderful Clyde work pants from Elizabeth Suzann, are now a beloved staple in my closet. And the scarf I’ve had for many years–wearing it makes cold weather seem more exciting. It has pockets! All together I felt so like myself in this moment, browsing yet another bookstore with my husband. I’m glad he snapped a couple photos to remember one of the last days of the strange, hard, significant year.

Between our own holiday celebrations and post-Christmas time with both our families, I’m a little behind and feeling unprepared for 2017. We tend to have blindly hopeful notions of the new year–this great, sweeping fresh start where change is certain and immediate. A sense of hope has immense benefit and meaning, of course, but in many ways the new year is a lot of life as usual mixed with change that comes after tremendous work. Habit shifts and new beginnings don’t always happen overnight simply because the calendar year is different. I’m still looking forward to sitting down to reflect on 2016 and the kind of year I hope to have personally in 2017, like in years past, but for today I’m content taking it slowly.

In terms of the blog, though, I’ve had a few thoughts on my mind for a long time, particularly in regard to where Good Bones is headed. To be honest, I don’t look forward to blogging as much as I once did and I’ve opted for less involved posts, fewer personal daily life posts the last several months as a means of avoiding the lack of interest and creativity I’ve experienced. In general, my love for and inspiration found on the internet has been waning–largely due to insecurity, a tendency to compare, and the pressure I feel to be a polished blog that constantly delivers fresh and unique content. But for me that pressure is especially misplaced and unproductive, antithetical to my own goals when I first started out. I want to reign in my focus and not only reevaluate my goals but also establish a clear, purposed plan for meeting them. I don’t need to try and keep up in 2017–I can continue trying to do what’s right for me.